New York's Harmful Drug Laws

Published: May 12, 2000

In 1973, under Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, New York enacted some of the toughest, most rigid drug laws in the nation. At the time it was thought that imposing long, mandatory sentences on drug pushers would stop the illegal drug trade. But 26 years of experience has shown that those expectations were completely baseless. Not only have the laws failed to increase public safety or stem the traffic in drugs, but they have filled state prisons with nonviolent drug offenders at huge public expense, clogged the court system and created new problems for communities and families already burdened by drug addiction.

These costly, inhumane laws were created in a different era, long before drug treatment and alternatives to incarceration were real options. It is time for the New York State Legislature to repeal an experiment gone badly wrong.

The current laws impose mandatory minimum sentences of 15 years on first-time offenders convicted of selling two ounces or more, or possessing four ounces or more, of cocaine or heroin. Second-time offenders convicted of selling even trace amounts of drugs face a mandatory minimum sentence of four and a half years. As a result, the number of drug offenders in prisons has soared. In 1980, 11 percent of the people sent to prison were drug offenders. In 1999 that number rose to 44 percent. There are now more than 22,000 drug offenders in state prisons, many of whom are low-level addicts who could be rehabilitated through drug treatment for far less than the annual cost of $32,000 for incarcerating an inmate.

The calls for reform from criminal justice experts, judges and prisoners' rights groups have grown more intense in the past year. Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the head of the White House drug control policy office, has criticized the stringent mandatory sentences, as have New York's Roman Catholic bishops. Even some lawmakers who initially supported the laws, like former State Senator John Dunne, have changed their minds.

But politics have long stymied efforts to revise the laws. For years the Democrats have pushed for drug law reform, only to be blocked by conservative Republicans. Yet in recent months there have been signs that Republicans are shifting from their traditional stance. Joseph Bruno, the State Senate's majority leader, spoke out last year about the need to revise the drug laws and give judges sentencing discretion. His enlightened position was a breakthrough for the Republican Party. Mr. Bruno is in a strong position to accomplish reform this year if he puts forward a bill that restores sentencing discretion to judges.

Gov. George Pataki offered a weak reform bill last year that would allow only a very limited number of inmates to appeal their sentences. He also demanded that reform be linked with ending parole for people convicted of nonviolent felonies, a controversial proposal that should not be tied to changes in the drug laws. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, rightly rejected the governor's inadequate plan. But he did not push for a meaningful alternative, apparently worried that doing so would make Democrats vulnerable to G.O.P. charges that they are soft on crime.

With both Mr. Pataki and Mr. Silver in their respective corners, Mr. Bruno is in the perfect spot to show some leadership. If he offers a strong reform bill, the Assembly Democrats would be forced to come out of hiding and engage in the debate. For his part, Mr. Pataki, who has on occasion granted clemency to drug offenders serving unjustly long sentences, would have to respond to a smart initiative from his own party. He may not in the end wish to veto a measure that makes the system more rational and cost-effective.

In recent months Mr. Bruno has demonstrated a taste for independent leadership, nudging the governor to act and even breaking with him on some issues. There is a chance that reform can be effected in the remaining weeks of this legislative session, if legislative leaders drop their posturing and face up to the pressing need to revise New York's destructive drug laws.